The invention relates to the fixing of a fluid reservoir onto a part of a motor vehicle.
Such a reservoir, especially for an item of equipment of the vehicle, may, for example, contain a liquid for cooling the engine of the vehicle, or else a liquid for washing the windscreen.
Generally, reservoirs of this type are fixed onto the bodywork of the vehicle, projecting therefrom. This results in a bulk which it is desired to reduce in present-day vehicles.
Moreover, the vehicle usually includes a front-face module intended to support a plurality of items of equipment of the vehicle, such as headlamps, heat exchangers, etc. Certain items of equipment of this type, such as a radiator for cooling the engine of the vehicle, requiring a fluid reservoir, are fixed onto the front-face module, while their reservoir is then fixed onto the bodywork, which complicates the fitting of such equipment.
The present invention aims to improve the situation.
According to the present invention there is provided a method of fixing a fluid reservoir, especially for an item of motor-vehicle equipment, onto a front-face module of the vehicle, the method including the following steps:
a) providing a fluid reservoir of chosen shape, as well as a front-face module comprising a housing matching the fluid reservoir,
b) inserting the reservoir into the housing, and
c) fixing the reservoir into its housing.
Here, the term xe2x80x9chousingxe2x80x9d is to be taken in the broad sense. It may relate to an aperture formed in the front-face module and intended to accommodate all or part of the reservoir. It may also relate to a recess formed in a surface of the module and intended to accommodate all or part of the reservoir. This recess may also be formed in an edge of the front-face module, while its walls are opposite only a part of the walls of the reservoir.
According to an advantageous optional characteristic of the invention, means are provided for sliding the reservoir in translation in the housing, in the course of inserting the reservoir into the housing.
Preferably the sliding means comprise a rib and a groove suitable for interacting with one another.
Advantageously, the housing includes a back wall substantially perpendicular to a direction of insertion of the reservoir into the housing, while the reservoir includes a protuberance facing the said back wall, so that, in the course of inserting the reservoir into the housing, the protuberance comes into contact with the back wall, which then forms an end stop.
According to another advantageous optional characteristic of the invention, means are provided for fixing the reservoir into the housing by clipping in the course of fixing the reservoir into its housing.
In a variant, the reservoir is fixed by overmoulding onto the housing of the front-face module, in the course of fixing the reservoir into its housing.
In another variant, it can be fixed by screws.
Hence, the front-face module, for implementing the method according to the invention, includes means for accommodating a fluid reservoir. That being so, the present invention also envisages such a front-face module.
For its part, the fluid reservoir, for implementing the method according to the invention, includes interacting means for inserting it and fixing it into a housing of a front-face module of the vehicle. That being so, the present invention also envisages such a fluid reservoir.